Rewards Canada's upcoming vacation travel - Painting a picture of loyalty programs in action

We're heading off on vacation so during the coming week there won't be much going on on Rewards Canada. We may put some posts up on the blog, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram if there is breaking news or some amazing offers so don't forget to check them regularly. The main Rewards Canada site however will not see any updates until the following week. We wish everyone a Happy Easter and safe travels if you are heading out during this time! May you earn and burn many miles and points!

Oh and yes this trip is being partially funded by points but is also a decent points earner. We are flying WestJet and paid for the tickets on my Diners Club Club Rewards MasterCard to which we applied a tailored travel credit. It wasn't for the full amount of the flights but nearly $1,700 of the flights were covered with this redemption which left us only about $800 out of pocket. This was our best bet for this trip as WestJet is the only airline that flies direct on the route and of course since we booked the tickets ourselves we got to pick the exact dates and times we wanted to travel!

The beauty of this type of redemption is that it is a full revenue booking with WestJet so all of our family members will earn 1% WestJet Dollars on the complete base fare not to mention the Diners Club Club Rewards points we already earned on the initial booking.

That's the redemption side. The earning side sees us taking advantage of two bonuses. I booked our rental car from Budget with this following Carlson Hotels Club Carlson offer found on our Club Carlson Bonus Points page:

8,250 Bonus Gold Points and save up to 20% when you rent a Budget vehicle for 3 or more consecutive days at participating locations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. Simply use BCD #U106508 along with your Club Carlson member number to receive your discount and points when making your advance reservation online at Budget.com Until Dec 31, 15

That means with the base earn rate of 750 points and the 8,250 points bonus I'll earn 9,000 points on the rental. Guess what? 9,000 points is enough for a free night at a Category 1 Carlson Rezidor hotel. However I will more than likely just use those points to boost my account for a future redemption at a higher category hotel.

Just some of the 9,000 point hotels we could use the points on

Finally we're spending 5 nights at a Hyatt Hotel on points earning AAA rate that includes breakfast and waives the resort fee. Since I registered for the Stay More Play More offer taken off of our Hyatt Gold Passport Bonus Points page I'll earn 5,000 bonus Gold Passport Points on top of my regular earn rate as I was targeted for the up to 50k offer. Those 5,000 points are enough for a redemption at a Category 1 Hotel but once again using it to pad my account for a higher end redemption. Here are the offer details:

Earn up to 65,000 Bonus Points for stays at Hyatt Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. Full Details, Online Registration and booking (Registration is required)  Until Apr 30, 15

Known Offer Variations:
Up to 65,000 Point Offer
15 Nights + 30,000 Points = 30,000
20 Nights + 15,000 Points = 45,000
25 Nights + 20,000 Points = 65,000

Up to 50,000 Point Offer
5 Nights + 5,000 Points = 5,000
10 Nights + 10,000 Points = 15,000
15 Nights + 15,000 Points = 30,000
20 Nights + 20,000 Points = 50,000

2,000 Point Offer
1 nights + 2,000 Points = 2,000

5,000 Point Offer
2 nights + 5,000 Points = 5,000

5,000 Point Offer
5 nights + 5,000 Points = 5,000

20,000 Point Offer
10 nights + 20,000 Points = 20,000

There you have it, a great example of miles and points in action. This trip is a perfect picture of utilizing both earn and burn techniques from loyalty programs that I participate in.

How about you? Are you off for Easter Break? Let us know how you've put loyalty programs into action for those travels by commenting below!